Metropolitan Transportation Commission chair Jake Mackenzie during a ceremony at the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center Plaza on Thursday, April 13, 2017, in San Francisco, Calif. The ceremony commemorated the

Metropolitan Transportation Commission chair Jake Mackenzie during a ceremony at the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center Plaza on Thursday, April 13, 2017, in San Francisco, Calif. The ceremony commemorated the

Local leaders find that supporting Bay Area housing plan spurs anger at home

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In Rohnert Park, hometown of Sonoma State University, the Graton Casino and strip malls packed against Highway 101, the regional housing battle has become personal.

The North Bay city is also home to Jake Mackenzie, local councilman and chair of the Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission, a powerful transit planning agency that recently became bullish on housing.

Earlier this month, Mackenzie landed in the crosshairs of a debate that has split cities and counties throughout California. In an abrupt decision, his City Council colleagues removed him from two board seats — one on the Sonoma County Transportation Authority, the other on the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District (SMART).

He’s not the only MTC commissioner to face a backlash after supporting the new 15-year housing initiative, called the CASA compact. Redwood City Councilwoman Alicia Aguirre lost her spot on the MTC last week. She represented San Mateo County, where mayors of 20 cities regularly meet to select members of boards and commissions. Several mayors told Aguirre that because she backed CASA, “they couldn’t vote for me.”

Photo: Courtesy Alicia Aguirre

Pictured is Redwood City, Calif. city council member Alicia Aguirre.

Pictured is Redwood City, Calif. city council member Alicia Aguirre.

The moves signal that sharp disagreements remain over how to address the regional housing crisis. Leaders in some communities feel they are being forced into policies emanating from San Francisco and Oakland, while others see aggressive regional action as imperative.

“A lot of us have gotten blowback,” said Commissioner Julie Pierce, a member of the Clayton City Council. During last year’s election, she was frequently skewered on social media “for being one of those nasty pro-growth people,” she said, even though she wasn’t on the ballot.

Mackenzie is up for reappointment to the MTC. His fate lies with a selection committee of nine mayors who will vote Thursday, and then pass their recommendation along to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors for a final confirmation next month.

Though Mackenzie is confident he has the votes to get picked — he’s also the only candidate to submit a letter of interest — some supporters worry the councilman’s pro-housing stance could hurt his chances.

The MTC comprises 21 commissioners from cities, counties and transit agencies throughout the nine-county Bay Area, most of them picked by the mayor or board of supervisors in their respective cities and counties — the Association of Bay Area Governments also appoints one member. The commission makes planning and funding decisions for major transportation projects, including highway lanes, bridge tolls, mass transit systems and housing.

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The two groups formed CASA, which loosely stands for the Committee to House the Bay Area, and in December the panel of mayors, nonprofit representatives and business leaders from companies like Google and Facebook made their recommendations in a 10-point compact. It will likely serve as a guide — and as political ammunition — for new state legislation. Besides setting housing goals, CASA recommends adding taxes, loosening zoning near transit centers and establishing a regional rent cap, among other things.

A revolt against the compact from communities in the North Bay and South Bay won’t stall the housing push, Mackenzie assured. He said the MTC found an ally in Gov. Gavin Newsom, who elevated housing to the top of his policy agenda and threatened to penalize cities that don’t build their share — Newsom fired an opening salvo by suing the Orange County city of Huntington Beach last week.

As for his own political future, Mackenzie was resolute.

“Am I concerned? Obviously,” he said. “I’ve been under attack.”

His woes began during a council meeting early in the month, when City Manager Darrin Jenkins delivered a cutting staff report on the CASA compact, which Mackenzie is expected to sign.

Rohnert Park’s four other council members recoiled, saying the compact would benefit big cities and developers but ruin the look and feel of their suburban community, while imposing new taxes on residents. Jenkins estimated it would extract $15 million a year from businesses and taxpayers, a figure that others dispute.

Councilwoman Pam Stafford was angry.

“What in the heck were they thinking?” she demanded. “This is insane.”

Photo: Ramin Rahimian / Special To The Chronicle

Rohnert Park city councilman and former mayor Jake Mackenzie poses for a portrait at the SMART train station in Rohnert Park, California, Wednesday, January 30, 2019. Ramin Rahimian/Special to The Chronicle

Rohnert Park city councilman and former mayor Jake Mackenzie poses...

The council voted to oust Mackenzie from the county transportation authority — a seat he’s held for 18 years — during a tense meeting on Jan. 22. They chose Vice Mayor Joseph Callinan, an opponent of the regional housing initiative, to be Mackenzie’s replacement. Without the county transportation authority seat, Mackenzie can no longer serve on the SMART board.

“I think it may be time for new blood,” Callinan said at the meeting, after nominating himself to unseat Mackenzie. “By no means do I think this is a punishment,” he added.

Callinan and other council members did not return phone calls for this story.

“I am not happy,” Mackenzie retorted, adding later that he regards the council’s decision “a slight to my service to the city of Rohnert Park” that was “clearly done very deliberately.”

To some observers, the gamesmanship in Rohnert Park City Hall illustrates larger divisions, as cities grapple with a housing shortage that has caused rents to soar, increased traffic congestion and pushed people into wildfire zones. Regional officials see no choice but to intervene, calling for a range of measures to protect tenants and encourage residential development. But local governments are pushing back, saying that bodies like the MTC have no right to shape their neighborhoods.

“I thought Jake got the short stick with his own council,” said Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt, who is president of ABAG.

“I’m going to be a big advocate for Jake,” Rabbitt said.

Photo: RAMIN RAHIMIAN / Special To The Chronicle

Demolition work being done on former State Farm Insurance campus where the Rohnert Park city center known as Station Avenue will be built in Rohnert Park, California, Wednesday, January 30, 2019. Ramin Rahimian/Special to The Chronicle

Demolition work being done on former State Farm Insurance campus...

He pointed to Mackenzie’s track record of pulling in money for North Bay, funding such projects as the SMART railway expansion.

Rabbitt defended the compact and said the criticisms bubbling from Rohnert Park reflect widespread misperceptions. Regional leaders who drafted the plan understand the difference between urban centers like San Francisco and smaller cities scattered throughout the North Bay, which wouldn’t be held to the same housing requirements, he said.

“Sometimes these cries of ‘local control’ are just a euphemism for, ‘We don’t want to do anything. There’s a housing crisis, but it’s not ours to solve,’” Rabbitt said.

Counterintuitively, Rohnert Park is building more housing than other cities in Sonoma County, Rabbitt added, which was one reason he found the City Council’s objections to CASA baffling.